The Klingon Hamlet
"You have not experienced Shakespeare until you have read him in the original Klingon." Thus speaks Chancellor Gorkon in the film Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. For some viewers the line produced hearty chuckles and knowing nods. Among others, it served as inspiration.
-Foreward in The Klingon Hamlet
Star Trek and Klingons have spawned many literature spin-offs, such as a production of A Klingon Christmas Carol inspired by the Charles Dickens novel, but The Klingon Hamlet certainly takes the cake. This book, translated by Nick Nicholas and Andrew Strader of the Klingon
Language Institute, uses this idea that William Shakespeare - that is, Wil'yam Shex'pir - was actually a Klingon dramatist and "restores" Khamlet to the "original" Klingon. In this version, Khamlet is the son of the Emporer of Kronos (the Klingon home planet) and heir to the Klingon Empire. Parts of the plot and the dialogue are altered to reflect Klingon culture and beliefs.
-Foreward in The Klingon Hamlet
Star Trek and Klingons have spawned many literature spin-offs, such as a production of A Klingon Christmas Carol inspired by the Charles Dickens novel, but The Klingon Hamlet certainly takes the cake. This book, translated by Nick Nicholas and Andrew Strader of the Klingon
Language Institute, uses this idea that William Shakespeare - that is, Wil'yam Shex'pir - was actually a Klingon dramatist and "restores" Khamlet to the "original" Klingon. In this version, Khamlet is the son of the Emporer of Kronos (the Klingon home planet) and heir to the Klingon Empire. Parts of the plot and the dialogue are altered to reflect Klingon culture and beliefs.
The book's main format is the play in English on the left-hand pages and Klingon on the right. The book also includes a witty introduction, written by the Bureau of External Releations on Kronos, for this edition for the United Federation of Planets. It details the history of Shex'pir, Khamlet, their importance to Klingon culture, and the Federation's propaganda that forged the works of Shex'pir and convinced members of the Federation that he was human. Appendices include endnotes about the translation's differences, information about the scansion of Khamlet, and an indignant response from Starfleet Academy.
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The Klingon Hamlet marked the beginning of the Klingon Shakespeare Restoration Project. The Klingon Language Institute is now working to translate other works of Shakespeare, such as Much Ado About Nothing and Macbeth. This project and the Klingon Language Institute also inspired this video of the "to be or not to be" soliloquy: